Muerte
by Kali-Nineteen
Summary: The newly released Horseman Death meets Zachariah to express his perspective on their predicament.
1. A Whisper

Sighing miserably, Death looked above him as he lied on the metal bars of the cage he dwelled in, his hands underneath his head. He had but one thing on his mind, and it was the same thing he had been thinking about since he the day he was returned to his prison.

Oh how he ached to be in the open world instead of the of his small, uncomfortable iron cage. Sure, he occasionally had the edge taken off him when a random—and on their behave, unfortunate—human came strolling up on the ground above him. Death did rather simple things to them, not being able to fully use his power from so far down below. So, he merely used lightning strikes, heart attacks, human/animal violence, breaking their necks, etc. Shear, unadulterated vapidity.

However, one or two deaths did little over the years to settle his cravings. No, he couldn't wait until the day came when he would be released again so he could play with God's little mud monkeys. Death knew the day when he could come out and finally greet the world with a smile on his face was drawing near. He could feel it. He could sense it. He yearned for it.

One would think that he should have been treated better than this. Especially after the huge favor he did for the God back so long ago. He must have felt that it was Death's obligation to just sit around and wait until he feels the world should end. Yes, Death enjoyed the flood greatly, but did God have any idea how hard it was to kill those damned Nephilim in it? For some reason, he doubted it.

Death stilled when he felt a presence draw near. At first he couldn't tell what it was, because of the distance, however, as the life force came closer he could tell it wasn't that of a human or an animal. Death sat up so he was in squatting position, he would have stood, but the small cage confined him from doing so. He sat like this for a few moments, not twitching a muscle, until he realized that it belonged to a powerful angel.

Once the angel was directly above Death's cage he was able to decipher that it was either Michael or the fallen one, Lucifer. This surprised Death. Almost. He had expected that once he was let out of his cage that it would be God's doing again, not one of his sons. Death wasn't picky though; he would take what he could get.

Death bite down on his lip hard, hoping gleefully that this was it. Suddenly, he heard a faint whisper caress his mind that was immediately recognizable to him. _Oh, Death,_ Lucifer's voice whispered into his mind, his tone playful. _What must I do to help you out of your prison?_

Death unknowingly grinned as he whispered back to God's rebel.


	2. Night of the Meek

Lucifer excelled Death's explanations, maybe even over did them, which was saying something. Death had told him to take out the mud monkeys in the town, but had never thought to make a point in slaying the woman and children first. Even though Death had only talked to the angel briefly one other time during the great flood, he had a feeling that they would get along just fine.

Time seemed to fly by as this occurred, Death could feel his power strengthening as each of these deaths happened. It was as if he was slowly waking up from a deep, restful slumber, all with no drowsiness.

_It's time;_ Death heard Lucifer's voice say to him only a couple weeks after he first came to his prison. Death, who was lying down at the time, sat up once he heard this. He felt Lucifer starting to dig the earth above him.

After a few minutes of this, Death felt two other life forces draw near. At first he thought that they were just demons, however he could tell they were human as they came closer. His smirk melted away with this realization. These two mud monkeys felt different than most. More aware, more… hallow.

He pondered on this for a moment. _Lucifer,_ Death whispered up to his acquaintance, not knowing if he felt their presence. After all, even though he was an archangel, no one could sniff out a living creature like Death could.

_Yes?_ Lucifer asked.

_I can feel the life forces of two unoccupied, powerful human vessels close by,_ Death said to him softly.

There was a long pause. _What are their details?_ He asked Death.

Death licked his lips and focused on the two new life forces for a few moments. _Only that they're both adult males, seem to be together and have some form of awareness,_ he answered.

Lucifer sighed heavily but continued digging. Even though he didn't answer directly, Death could tell by the reaction that he had an idea of who those mud monkeys were. This thought only increased after a few minutes. Lucifer had dug far enough into the ground by then that Death was able to hear what was going on above him to some extent—before he couldn't hear anything unless it was directed to him. With this newfound freedom, Death was able to hear some of what was happening as one of the mud monkeys come up behind the angel and spoke to Lucifer directly. Talking as if they all ready knew each other.

Lucifer seemed to go along with this as Death felt the other human come up beside the fallen angel. He exchanged a few words with him then there was a loud bang of a gunshot. Death couldn't help but laugh. Even though those mud monkeys were more awake of their surroundings than most, they obviously knew little to nothing about death.

Once Lucifer was back on his feet he threw the mud monkey that attempted to murder him back into a tree then continued to mingle with the other human as he finished the ceremony.

What had Death, however, was the fact that just before it was over he felt one more powerful being show up just momentarily, then vanish along with the two humans. It confused him, yes, however Death had other things to concern himself with.

As soon as Lucifer had finished, Death felt enormous serge of power. Using it he slid out of his cage and up into the night air with ease. He took a deep breath through his nostrils, smelling the faint perfume of the dead demons as he blinked his eyes. He wasn't used to the light, even as dim as it was.

Death's eyes then set on Lucifer's present human vessel standing before him. He was short, looked to be in his 40s and had burns on his body. That's when Lucifer spoke through his vessel. "Well, hello Death."


	3. Blissful

"Lucifer," Death said tonelessly then looked passed him and at the dead demons for a moment. "I didn't think that it would have been you to release me."

The fallen angel cocked an eyebrow. "You want to go back in?" he asked with a sarcastic hint in his voice as he nudged his head at the hole he had just dug.

Death snorted, looking back at Lucifer. "No. I was just a little taken back," he explained.

Lucifer shrugged his shoulders, understanding Death's misconception. After all, it had been a few thousand years sense he had company other than himself. "God isn't around anymore," Lucifer told him. "He is believed to be… dead."

Death tilted his head, a look of puzzlement on his face. "Dead? That cannot be true. I would have felt something that powerful die," he stated meeting Lucifer's eyes. "Surely he is trapped or is up to something the angels don't know," he said then paused. "Or has vacated."

There was a few seconds of silence where Lucifer gave Death a stare seeming as if he was in deep contemplation. "He didn't vacate," Lucifer replied firmly after awhile.

"You would know more than I would."

Sighing, the angel said, "He's not here, that's all that matters."

Death bit the side of his tongue for a moment as concern in flooded his mind. "Michael has his vessel?" he asked Lucifer, who looked surprised at the question.

"No. The man he chose keeps refusing him," Lucifer said. "He was actually one of the humans you felt here. The one who tried to kill me."

Death chuckled. "They chose _him_?" he asked, then frowned. "You think that he'll say yes eventually?"

The angel shook his head. "The sky would fall before that would happen," he replied.

Death looked away from Lucifer at this realization. Without Michael to stop Lucifer, every human and later on demon would die. This would be fine with Death it there wasn't one big problem: Without any living creature around, where would Death or any of his Grim Reapers be? There would be no use for him or the Reapers. With that, would he just go back into his prison after everyone died, or would he deteriorate? Both outcomes sounded unpleasant. _I can't let that happen,_ Death thought, looking back at Lucifer.

"I must go," he said to the fallen angel.

Lucifer nodded, obviously in bliss of what Death was pondering. "Have fun."


	4. Angels

For once in Death's pitifully and excruciating unhappy existence, was he happy that his form resembled a mud monkey's. It was one that even the thickest headed human could look at without their eyes being burned out of the sockets. That was the one thing that Death resented about the angels. Personally, he would find it quite amusing to see a human's eyes burn out at the sight of him. Man, did he have some crappy luck. Never had he dreamed the day that it would actually come in good use.

He had the appearance of a man in his early to mid 20s, dark brown almost black hair, pasty white skin, 5 6ish and almond colored eyes. It didn't take much time either to find that the pre-flood style of clothing was no longer assessable in the time he was released in, after looking at Lucifer's vessel and the dead demon and human bodies. So, not really caring, Death took a pair of blue jeans, a plain black T-shirt and a goofy looking pair of shoes that were called Converses from one of the dead mud-monkeys house. It wasn't like they were going to use them after all.

With that, he left the city alone in search of any angel—excluding Lucifer—at this point. They were always relatively easy for him to find, and their had to be one that was the lead "get Mike's vessel" guy. Well, Death figured they would have one anyway.

It took only about half an hour of searching to find a lower class one, who was walking the sidewalks of a small town named Semiwood. The angel had a vessel of a man in his 40s with dirty blond hair. Death blinked, the named of the angel was Andrew and his vessel's name was Kyle Libbers. Names, one of the many things Death was good at.

Death didn't need to come up to the angel; he had apparently sensed him and came to him. After all, it wasn't like Death picked sides in anything ever. He had always remanded natural (for the most part), carrying out only was he was supposed to do and what was needed done by him. Well, unless you count trying to hook up Mikey with the dunce he called his vessel.

Andrew looked a little disappointed as he materialized in front of him. "You're out already?" the angel asked Death point blank.

Shrugging, Death nodded. "Yes. I was actually quite surprised whom it was who helped me out too," he replied.

Andrew cocked one of his eyebrows. "Why are you here? I would have thought you'd start in the larger cities," he said tonelessly.

Death bit the inside of his lip for a moment before answering. "I was hoping you could answer a question," he explained. "Which angel is trying to locate Michael's vessel?"

The angel looked surprised at the question. After a moment, the expression washed a way with a dark glower. "What, so you can kill him? We'd only bring him back to life," Andrew snapped at him.

Death, in return, frowned and shook his head. "I would do no such thing," he said. "After all, without Michael down here, _everyone_ will die," he told him.

After a few moments Andrew seemed to understand Death's statement. "Oh," he said as he moved his vessel's shoulders uncomfortably. "Well, pretty much every angel is looking out for Dean. We've even told some of the fringier religious humans about him," the angel said then paused. "If there is one angel that would be considered the lead in trying to find him, it would probably be Zachariah," Andrew concluded.

"Zachariah," Death repeated, as a flash of memory came to him. Wasn't he the angel who complained a lot? Or was that Gabriel… Death shook his head slightly, pushing the thought aside. "Thank you, Andrew," he said to the angel with a nodded then vanished.


End file.
